We're all used to outages of service and temporary hiccups when it comes to accessing our favorite Web sites, but it's not often that we're advised that the entire Internet may go on the fritz. Nevertheless, that's the message from London Olympics organizers, who released a new report designed to prepare everyone for the July games.

"It is possible that Internet services may be slower during the [2012 Olympic] Games or in very severe cases there may be drop outs due to an increased number of people accessing the Internet," the report says. "In addition, ISPs may introduce data caps during peak times to try and spread the loading and give a more equal service to their entire customer base. However, this has not yet been confirmed by these ISPs and we hope to have more information nearer to Games time."

Although this advice may strike some as overly cautious, the warning likely stems from our increasing dependence on Internet video streaming as a staple of the Web. In fact, the report addresses this specific point by saying, "Consider alternative means of communication (for example, video-streaming may greatly reduce your internal network's capacity)."

These concerns regarding Internet streaming as the culprit of an Internet slowdown are not wholly unwarranted. Just prior to Sunday's Super Bowl, NFL star quarterback Tom Brady admitted to watching last year's Super Bowl via an illegal streaming Web site. Now just imagine the entire planet accessing the London Olympics via legal and illegal streaming video sites, all at the same time, and one begins to understand the seemingly dire warnings from U.K. officials.

Despite the cautioning, few actually expect the Internet to come to a standstill as a result of the upcoming Olympics. However, the very real steps being taken, just in case, tell us that such a scenario shouldn't be dismissed. You can read the full report via london2012.com (PDF file).

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